Consideration of marketing automation often revolves around lead generation and the identification of qualified prospects. In this scenario, online marketing programs utilizing search engine marketing and online advertising are combined with lead scoring and lead nurturing systems to form a sales pipeline that generates qualified prospects.
A lead scoring system determines the appropriate action for a lead by scoring it according to various online behaviors. For leads determined not to be sales-ready, the lead nurturing system maintains interest in the lead until it is ready to buy.
1-877-872-2764
Introduction
Vendors to the healthcare industry need real time sales intelligence.
But what about B2B sales scenarios where the prospects are already known or well-defined? How can marketing automation be of use to these B2B sales organizations?
The healthcare industry is a noteworthy case in point. This is a B2B sales scenario where potential customers are easily identified and well-defined, centering around but not limited to hospitals and physicians. Sales representatives selling to the healthcare industry generally know who the prospects are in their territory.
But since health care industry sales are typically complex and resource intensive, obliging sales representatives to engage all prospects before they are ready to buy can be costly for the vendor.
Unsolicited email marketing may also alienate these prospective buyers. Sales representatives are more productive when they can concentrate on closing sales so health care industry vendors need to know the subset of prospects that are funded and ready to engage in the purchase cycle.
Vendors to the healthcare industry need real time sales intelligence. This is not just data; it is being informed about revealing buying behaviors in real time. For health care industry vendors who already know the answer to “who”, marketing automation provides the answer to “when?”
1-877-872-2764
Health care industry customers can consist of hospitals, physicians, extended care facilities and nursing homes, diagnostic laboratories, pharmacies and medical device manufacturers. The healthcare industry is one of the largest and fastest-growing industries in the world. Global health care expenditures
exceeded $4 trillion in 2006 with the United States alone accounting for nearly half of that spending. Most developed countries consume over 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in health care. In the United States, health care accounts for over 15 percent of GDP.
According to a 2010 Report by the Camden Group, a key trend has been the adoption of advanced technologies such as information technology solutions, including clinical information systems, Computerized Physician Order Entry and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). In the United States, “These tech-driven changes are so important that reform legislation includes both financial rewards and penalties to ensure the adoption of clinical IT infrastructure across the healthcare industry.” Since products sold to the healthcare industry are often complex and expensive, the sales cycles are complicated and resource intensive. Allocating sales resources to prospects who are not funded can be a costly mistake for any healthcare industry vendor. These vendors need to know which of their
prospects are ready to buy and when they are ready to engage.
The health industry is one of the largest
and fastest growing industries in the world.
Health Care Industry
For qualified prospects that are not ready to buy, a modern marketing automation system can nurture them and detect when they are ready. This frees up time for sales representatives to focus on high yield activities like engaging qualified, funded prospects and closing sales.
1-877-872-2764
Sales intelligence is a feature of some advanced customer relationship management (CRM) systems. However, although CRM sales intelligence applications are relatively flexible, they are essentially passive. Analyzing data usually requires initiation by the user in the form of a query, with results presented in the form of a summary report.
A marketing automation solution like Active Conversion automatically analyzes data and deliver actionable information in real-time. Sales intelligence is delivered at the precise moment the information is available.
Sales intelligence is delivered at the precise moment
the information is available.
Typically sales representatives are alerted when a prospect exceeds a preset threshold which the sales organization has defined as “sales-ready.” This means the prospect is ready to buy and ready to engage the sales representative in the purchase cycle. The alert is immediately sent to the appropriate sales representative for follow up.
Fortunately some CRM systems like Salesforce.com are well integrated with applications like Active Conversion. In these situations, an alert along with the accompanying information is sent directly to the prospect’s file within the appropriate sales representative’s Salesforce.com account.
1-877-872-2764
Sales leads that are unqualified need to be cultivated and developed. Lead nurturing is the process of communicating with prospects who are not yet ready to buy. Marketing automation solutions like Active Conversion automate this process, reducing costs and optimizing sales representatives’ time. Sales reps are most productive when they can spend more time closing sales instead of wasting time qualifying leads that are not ready to buy. Hot leads can close in 30 days or less but most (77%), close after 90 days.
What Constitutes Real-Time Sales Intelligence?
Sales-ready means the lead is ready to engage a sales rep
to begin the purchase process.
Since products and services in the oil and gas industry can be very complex, the information requirement of all prospects can be considerable. A lead nurturing program identifies a prospect’s position in the sales cycle and transitions that prospect through the cycle with timely and relevant information. This reduces the load on the sales team and allows them to concentrate on closing sales. The educational component of the sales effort is supported by lead nurturing.
Lead nurturing is not new. However before marketing automation solutions emerged it was a costly activity. More often than not it was an activity that simply fell through the cracks, wasting any leads that had been generated.
A significant function of the lead nurturing system is the capability to alert the appropriate sales rep at the moment any lead becomes sales-ready even if the lead doesn’t contact the company. Sales-ready means the lead is ready to engage a sales rep to begin the purchase process.
1-877-872-2764
The oil and gas industry is uniquely suited to take advantage of online marketing and marketing automation. As SMBs with global markets, oil and gas service and equipment companies can cost-effectively market to potential customers worldwide by exploiting search engines through search engine optimization. SEO enhances a company’s ability to be found on the Internet, leveling the playing field against competitors with much larger marketing budgets.
Moreover, a seamlessly integrated marketing automation system can generate qualified sales leads that are delivered to the appropriate sales representative at the moment the lead is qualified.
Marketing automation achieves further efficiencies by automatically engaging unqualified sales leads until they are ready to buy. This reduces the considerable sales resource required for many oil and gas products and services. It maximizes sales resources and allows sales representatives to concentrate on their most productive activity: closing sales and getting new customers.
1-877-872-2764
About ActiveConversion
ActiveConversion specializes in developing repeatable online sales and marketing systems for industrial companies. Our technology-based system employs best practices in online marketing and lead generation, and delivers measurable results to our customers. Since 2004, we have completed more than 500 successful projects to help companies succeed online. For more information, visit activeconversion.com or call 1-877-872-2ROI.
